This invention relates generally to improvements in optical devices, and more particularly is directed to a wide angle viewing device to be incorporated into headgear including but not limited to protective masks and helmets. It is particularly suited for use in conjunction with conventional helmet and face mask gear used in space and underwater environments. However it may also be used in any situation where a substantial increase in peripheral vision is desirable.
Humans operating in space and underwater are at a distinct sensory disadvantage because environmental conditions and conventional protective head gear tends to restrict the visual field of view and at the same time renders the senses of hearing, smell and touch useless. This restriction of sensory inputs occurs in underwater and space environments where the region from which an individual is likely to receive physical influence is often greatly expanded. In contrast to normal terrestrial activities, the expanded region of probable physical influence or "sphere of influence" is generally greater in underwater and space environments. Often in space and underwater one may receive physical influence from any direction radiating from an imaginary sphere surrounding the individual. It is therefore important to provide an individual working in these environments with a means of monitoring all or most of this expanded sphere of influence.
In underwater environments most free swiming creatures have evolved non binocular, independent, extreme wide angle, peripheral or "fisheye" vision. The instant invention derives from these examples in nature to provide an individual with independent supplemental vision of left and right hemispheres of influence. The intent is not to expand or modify the function of normal binocular vision but to supplement it with an extreme wide angle peripheral viewing system which can be positioned so as to minimally restrict normal human vision. The instant design in its various embodiments can easily be attached to the exterior of a mask or helmet viewing surface or integrated within the structure, being placed between the eye and the viewing surface and offset somewhat from one's direct line of sight when the eye is centered.